Not Everything is Sugar Coated
by snoodlebutter
Summary: A girl wakes up in a strange place, with no recollection of herself and a painful malfunction. While she's initially amazed at the world she has no memory of, she soon finds that not everything is sugar coated. One-shot...for now ;)


***Casually drops this here after being absent for months***

**;)**

* * *

Bleary hazel eyes fluttered open, squinting at the bright sunlight glaring into them through the fluffy cotton candy clouds.

"Ugh," the girl groaned.

She felt _terrible._

Every muscle in her body burned, and her bones ached. She had a splitting headache, her throat was dry, and her eyes stung.

And aside from the physical pain, deep down she could tell something else was wrong. Her mind was foggy, and she found it hard to think. She didn't know who she was or what she was doing here or where she was supposed to be.

So she decided to start simple.

_C'mon, think! It can't be that hard!_

_My name's- Vanellope, _she recalled after a minute.

_Vanellope von Schweetz._

That sounded familiar.

But as she looked around at the bright, cheery candy coated world around her, she felt like a wall was keeping her from remembering anything else.

Shouldn't she have a house somewhere? What was she, a hobo?

Vanellope let out the smallest little laugh at that, before her body was suddenly gripped with indescribable pain.

She knew nothing about herself or her past, but somehow Vanellope knew she'd never experienced this pain before. Her vision became obstructed by cobalt blue pixels and the flickers of zeroes and ones that felt like they were constricting her, ripping her apart from the inside out, down to the deepest part of her code.

She wanted to scream for help, but found that no matter how hard she tried, no sound came out of her mouth.

_I can't breathe!_ _I can't breathe!_ she panicked, terror gripping her. She was suffocating! She was certain she was going to die here, completely alone, with no idea who she was or what she was doing here.

But just when she was sure she couldn't take anymore, the pain- vanished. Just as quickly as they'd seized her, the blue swirls of code stopped rippling through her form, and her vision started to clear.

Vanellope touched her face, almost as if to make sure she was still all there.

But her fingers were wet when she pulled them away.

She didn't know when she'd started crying.

_What's happening to me?_

She looked around, as if someone would manifest out of thin air and help her- with what she honestly didn't know. But just seeing someone, _anyone_, would be a comfort. Just knowing she wasn't alone in this world.

She was confused, and isolated, and in pain, and- though she got the feeling she was a character that wouldn't want to admit it- she was scared too.

But nonetheless Vanellope shakily got to her feet, dusting herself off.

She looked around, trying to get her bearings, but realized quickly that everything looked the same.

Just candy cane trees as far as the eye could see.

"Oh."

This might be tougher than she thought.

_Where are all the people? What kinda game is this?_ she asked herself as she began to climb the nearest tree for a vantage point.

And, almost as if in answer to her unspoken question, she heard the revving of engines in the distance.

_A racing game? Wow! Am I a racer?_

She guessed not, since there wasn't a kart in sight. Vanellope didn't know a whole lot about this place, but she was pretty sure she'd remember if she owned a kart.

Up near the top she sat down on a branch.

A perfect view of the race!

And of everything else.

She quickly found herself distracted from the race, taking in the panoramic view of the sweet world she found herself in.

_Wow. I live here?_

The girl stayed perched there for hours, enamored with the land of- _Sugar Rush_, if the song that continually played in a loop was anything to go by.

_That is __catchy,_she thought, humming the melody she'd learned by heart after hearing it for the _trillionth_ time.

She flopped onto her stomach, watching the karts twist and turn and speed down the candy coated track.

_That looks like fun. I wonder when I'll get to race, _she thought absently, before losing herself to a lazy afternoon catnap.

* * *

Vanellope was roused by the sound of several voices.

_People!_

She excitedly made her way down from the tree with surprising agility, hopping onto a gumdrop and landing gracefully back on the soft ground like a cat.

Only to find ten pairs of wide eyes staring back at her.

They were all kids around her age, all relatively the same height, dressed in every color of the rainbow. Some of them even had hats to correspond with their candy theme.

_I wonder what my candy is._

"Uhm, hi."

She was met with silence.

_"That's her," _a blonde girl, dressed completely in various shades of pink, whispered to the green-haired girl next to her, who immediately fixed her with a glare.

Vanellope felt small. And it wasn't just because she _was _a teensy bit smaller than the others, height-wise.

But just then, the pixels took over her body again.

It wasn't quite as agonizingly painful as the first time, but by the time the episode was over, leaving her exhausted with every inch of her body aching, everyone was gone and she was on the ground.

But one had stayed.

A boy, with curly golden blonde hair. His theme was peanut butter cups, if his hat was any indication.

_She recognized him. _Vanellope didn't know why or where she knew him from, she just knew she did.

He sneered down at her.

"W-what's wrong with me?" she asked, distraught.

"You're a _glitch," _he replied, contempt dripping in his voice as he towered over her.

Since he made no move to help her, Vanellope got up on her own, despite how much it hurt, despite how badly she just wanted to curl up into a ball.

She dusted herself off again, made more acutely aware of their height difference, however slight, under his judgmental gaze.

Why was she smaller, anyway? The rest of them looked like they were all the same height.

But she ignored that for the time being. There were more important questions.

"How do I fix the glitch?" she finally asked.

The boy scoffed before turning around to leave.

"No- don't go. P-please. I'm confused. I don't know what's going on, or why I'm glitchy or- or why you're all so mad at me. All I know is my name- it's- it's Vanellope. Vanellope von Schweetz."

At that, she saw the faintest spark of recognition. This boy knew her.

"You- you know me!" she cried, her smile lighting up, "Who am I? Am I a racer? What's my candy? Do I have a kart?" she started bombarding him with questions in her excitement. She'd finally know herself!

"I don't know _you," _he sneered.

Her smile vanished.

"All I know is that you're a _glitch. _And you don't have a candy, because _glitches can't race._"

Vanellope's heart sank.

"W-why not?"

"Because you'd just _ruin _everything."

"No I wouldn't! I could be a great racer, just like you guys! I-"

"_No, you can't. _King Candy'll have you arrested before you even get near the racetrack."

The little girl looked forlornly at the boy.

_King Candy?_

"I didn't mean to be a glitch. I- _why _am I a glitch?"

"You weren't supposed to exist," he said simply.

"B-but-" her lip began to tremble and she bit it in a desperate attempt to keep what was left of her pride.

He smirked before turning around, leaving to find his friends.

She didn't stop the boy, but watched him go, quickly wiping her eyes with her hoodie sleeve.

_"You weren't supposed to exist_."

What was she supposed to do about that?

"It's not like I can help it," Vanellope whispered.

The sweet world around her seemed almost deceitful now as the little girl climbed back to her spot, curling up on the branch and looking at the view that had fascinated her earlier with new, slightly watery eyes.

_Maybe not everything was sugar coated._

* * *

**UwU**

**Also, edit from the future: Van's song in this AU is Sad Machine by Porter Robinson. Might not make all that much sense now, but this is an AU ;)**

**More coming soon**


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